I'm a Nintendo fan and I'm not expecting a massive commercial success for the wiiu but I do think it will be a profitable venture for Nintnedo that certainly does better for Nintendo than the gamecube did.
The gamecubes largest failing was that it came after the PS2 already had major momentum and didn't do much to differentiate itself from the playstation 2 in the eyes of the general consumer. The Wiiu is going to have a year's head start and when the PS4 comes and Nextbox I would expect these machines to be more expensive. The Wiiu also has a controller bundled with it that make it stand at as a different product. I think you'll see this system maintaining a competitive price advantage over their competitors as well. These are things that the Gamecube did not have going for it. Secondly I think a huge mistake for Nintnedo with the Gamecube and the N64 for that matter is that they all but abanonded 2d games which have that broad family appeal. Nintendo is going to crank out a lot of 2d games for the Wiiu after the success they had with these titles on the original wii.. Core games do matter too though and they will absolutely see a boost in sales with Mario Kart, Mario 3d, Zelda, metroid, Monolith Project X come out and Nintendo needs this because these people are essential for word of mouth. The Wii had a brand new zelda on day one so core gamers were pumped an bought the system and then the casual games were shown the system in the homes of the core gamer and word of mouth spread. The other factor is that Nintendo simply increased overall awareness for their ips and their brand with the success of the wii and there should be some spill over effect this generation because of this. The cube followed up a downward trending Nintendo system in the n64.
It's not just games it's price too but that may not come until 2014. Nintendo will do fine this year because they are still speaking to core gamers and will be heard loud and clear by many of them when great product like Pikmin 3, Mario 3d, Mario Kart, Zelda Remake ect are released. Next year will be about continuing that momentum with more games and a price point drop.
